Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for power saving and interference reduction in broadcasting signals/channels related to opportunistic eNB operations, thereby providing consistent service in a wireless communication system.
Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency divisional multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.
These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example of an emerging telecommunication standard is Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE/LTE-Advanced is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA on the downlink (DL), SC-FDMA on the uplink (UL), and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology.
Nodes for providing small coverage cells have been introduced into wireless networks to allow for coverage in desired areas. Such nodes can include a relay, a UE relay, a remote radio head (RRH), a femto node, a pico node, a micro node, a home evolved Node B (HeNB), a home node B (HNB), or similar devices that can establish a wired or wireless backhaul connection to a wireless network and provide service over a wireless radio connection. Thus, the nodes can expand coverage of base stations or provide additional service, and a UE can connect to such small cells to receive such service. Small cells can turn off or otherwise refrain from utilizing a transmitter during certain times to conserve radio resources in the wireless network and avoid interference with other cells. The small cells can monitor for a discovery signal transmitted by one or more UEs, and can activate the transmitter based on detecting such a discovery signal, in one example. In this regard, the small cell can begin transmitting broadcast signals; however, if the small cell broadcasts at full power, this can create interference to neighboring cells, possibly causing radio link failure.
Thus, aspects of this apparatus and method provide for power saving and interference reduction in broadcasting signals/channels related to opportunistic eNB operations, thereby providing consistent service in a wireless communication system.